A Swedish Love Story EP

Domino; 2010

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Even in the indulgent world of concept albums, Owen Pallett's Heartland was out there: On that record, Pallett created Spectrum, a fictional universe where a misanthropic, "ultra-violent farmer" named Lewis tended the land, and each of the album's songs were his monologues. Sometimes they were even addressed to Pallett himself. Despite this, Heartland managed to be Pallett's most accessible album to date.

The four-track EP A Swedish Love Story is a continuation of Heartland, and reflects Pallett's new live setup, which features multi-instrumentalist Thomas Gill augmenting Pallett's once-solo performances. Gill's presence provides Pallett more flexibility onstage, and apparently in the studio too, as this EP nudges Pallett's sound into slightly less familiar territory. While Heartland opened up his previously razor-thin aesthetic to electronics and percussion, the most noticeable addition here is the increased use of synthetic drum sounds. Pallett mostly crafts fussy orchestral pop, and the addition of beats (albeit polite ones) hints that his elegant but forceful stringwork wouldn't be out of place in a more danceable setting. The shift is most pronounced on "Don't Stop", which rigs a juddering hip-hop beat to slightly dissonant violin in service of Pallett's graceful melodies-- which, by the way, are every bit as anthemic as those of his Arcade Fire colleagues.

Despite the EP title, A Swedish Love Story is nowhere as cohesive or fluid as Heartland. Pallett usually works in set pieces, but here the lyrics leave a little too much to the imagination-- you'd need a libretto, or at least a productive gchat with Pallett himself, to fill in the blanks. Perhaps the biggest revelation is one that should've been clear all along-- that Pallett's blanched vocal tone isn't far removed from the mid-80s bedsit pop it's sometimes compared to. "Honour the Dead, or Else" is evidence enough of that, with its Morrissey-level misery situated amongst flanged guitars, hollowed kettle drums, and a plucked violin that veers ever so close to a synthesizer string tone.

Still, if you were hoping this sort of low-stakes venture would find Pallett taking wilder chances, it may be a minor disappointment. Even with the apparent shifts and changes, all four of Swedish's songs would have fit snugly on Heartland. But Pallett is hardly running in place, either. In fact, he's created such a comparison-resistant framework for his unique sensibilities that no matter where he takes his sound, he'll sound like no one other than himself.